The present specification relates to a device having a display, and more particularly to an electronic device that uses a cursor on a display or a touch screen as a user interface.
A display is widely used in many devices to present visual contents or objects which include text, graphics, images, video, and icons for documents or software. Various electronic devices may use displays to provide a user interfacing mechanism so that a user can control certain operations of these devices. Some examples of these electronic devices include personal digital assistants (PDAs), certain desktop or portable telephones, and many computers or computer-based systems, to name a few.
Different techniques have been developed to allow a user to control some operations of an electronic device through its display. One example is to use a cursor on the display to point at a desired location or to select one or more objects on the display. A pointing device, such as a mouse, a track ball, a track pad, a track point stick, one or more keys on a keyboard, or some control buttons or wheels, may be used to control the cursor position on the display. Many such devices require a user to visually determine a desired position of the cursor while using the pointing device to move the cursor.
Another example of using a display as a user interface is touch screens. A touch screen has sensors arranged on a display panel. A user can visually locate a desired location or object on the screen and simply touch the screen to perform an operation.
Hence, the above and many other user interfacing techniques through the display operate based on a user""s ability to see, and particularly, the user""s ability to visually identify an location or object on the display. This requirement may limit the user""s use of the device when the user is visually impaired by some physical condition (e.g., poor vision or blindness) or other reasons (e.g., the display is too dim to see under strong background light).
In particular, as electronic information and communication devices become more and more available and accessible to the general public, it is increasingly desirable to implement special features in such devices so that they are accessible to physically disabled users such as visually impaired users. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 represents the legislative effort to meet such need.
In recognition of the above, the present disclosure provides an audible positioning feature in association with the positioning on a display. At least one distinct audio signal is assigned to each position on the display. As a user moves a cursor from one position to another on the display or touch different spots on a touch screen, the audio signal changes accordingly. Hence, a user can locate and identify a position on the display solely by hearing its associated audio signal, without actually watching the display.
Each audio signal may include two audio parameters that respectively change along two different directions in the display. The two audio parameters produce different audible effects in the audio signal to indicate positions along the two different directions. The tone frequency, volume, or the frequency of volume modulation of the audio signal, for example, may be used as such parameters.
Visual objects such as icons on the display may be assigned with unique sounds. When a cursor points at an icon or a user touches the icon on a touch screen, a unique sound associated with that icon is produced to inform the user. The sound may include a voice that indicates the content represented by the icon.
One embodiment of an electronic device having a display with the above audio positioning mechanism includes a video driver and a display coupled to produce an image, a position circuit operable to select any point on the display in response to a user input, and a positioning sound driver coupled to the position circuit to produce different audio signals for different positions on the display. The position circuit is designed to produce first and second coordinates of a point on the display to define its position in a coordinate system having first and second axes intercepting each other. The position sound driver produces two distinct audio effects to indicate the position change along the two axes to a user by audio.
These and other aspects and associated advantages will become more apparent in light of the detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.